So last week, as we started into the season of Lent, we also started a new series of sermons called Crossroads. And if you were to look it up in the dictionary, you would see the word Crossroads refers to a point in which an important choice or decision has to be made. But of course, if you look it up in the dictionary, you would also see that the word Crossroad is, in fact, just one word, not two words like it shows up in our little title graphic. So what gives?
We just kind of forget how to sell. How do we make one really big typo when we were working on this sermon series that I just ignore all those swiggly little red lines that kept popping up in Google Docs every time that I typed Crossroads as two words instead of one. It wasn't any of those things. The reason why we're calling this Crossroads with two words instead of one is because in this series, we're not talking about a point at which an important choice or decision has to be made.
We're talking about the point at which an important decision has to be made about Jesus. So throughout this series, what we're doing each week is we're taking a closer look at a story of someone who encountered Jesus, because in the season of Lent, it's the time when we are journeying with Jesus, during his time on his earth as he moves toward the cross. And during his time on his earth, Jesus encountered numerous people. And in this series, we're going to see that whenever someone encountered Jesus, it brought them to a Crossroads, a point where they had to make an important decision about who they thought Jesus was and if they would follow Jesus.
And in each of these encounters, every person that Jesus meets, they have to stop. And they have to look at the road that they're on. They have to be honest about where they're heading and they have to ask themselves, is this the road I want to be on? Is this the road I actually want to be on?
And this is most definitely the case for the person that we're going to be talking about today, who encounters Jesus. Today, we're gonna be talking about a man named Nicodemus. And we fight first by Nicodemus in John chapter three. So if you've got a Bible close by or Bible app on your phone, I'd encourage you to go ahead and open it to John three, but it's gonna be a few minutes before we get into the Gospel of John.
Because before we can start talking about who Nicodemus is and what happens when he meets Jesus, I have to start out by making a small confession to you. Today, I'm going to break one of the cardinal rules of preaching and I've broken this rule before, but I'm gonna do it again today. And Thomas Long, who's a retired preaching professor who's taught at such prestigious universities is Princeton and Columbia. He explains this rule this way.
He says, the beginning of a sermon has the job of pricking the ears of the hearers. It serves the same purpose as a drum roll or a trumpet fanfare. It's meant to provoke curious interest about what comes next. So what Thomas Long is saying is that the introduction to a sermon is meant to grab your attention.
But what I'm about to do today is probably gonna have the opposite effect on you. Because instead of doing something that's gonna grab your attention to make you wanna sit on the edge of your seat throughout the whole sermon, what I'm about to do is probably gonna make you want to kick back in your seat and maybe try to take a nap. Because today I'm gonna start this sermon by talking about ancient history. And I know just by saying that I can already see some of your eyes glazing over, but it's gonna get worse.
Because when I say we're talking about ancient history, I don't mean that we're gonna be talking about like the Trojan War or the Battle of Thermopylae or any events that change world history. No, the ancient history that we're going to be talking about today is the history of the Pharisees. And I know, but that is not the most exciting way that I can start a sermon today, but sometimes you gotta do it. And today is one of those days that we have to talk about the history of the Pharisees.
And we need to do that because in order to understand what happens when Jesus encounters Nicodemus, we have to understand who Nicodemus was. And John chapter three begins by telling us this about Nicodemus and John three verse one, John writes, there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus. So John tells us that Nicodemus is a Pharisee. So in order for us to understand who Nicodemus was and how that impacts his encounter with Jesus, we need to understand what it meant to be a Pharisee.
And to understand what it meant to be a Pharisee, we actually have to go back a couple hundred years before Jesus has this encounter with Nicodemus. We have to go back to 175 BCE. And in 175 BCE, Israel was ruled over by a Greek king named Antiochus the fourth Ephippes. And Antiochus wanted to maintain peace and unity throughout his entire empire by making sure that everyone there adopted Greek culture and set up their own.
So what this meant functionally was that Antiochus made it illegal for Jewish people to do everything that made them Jewish. He outlawed them, worshiping the God of Israel. He made it illegal for them to observe the Sabbath. He wouldn't allow them to practice their religious festivals or follow their dietary rules.
So Antiochus was trying to erase everything that made the people of Israel who they were. He even went so far as to rededicate the temple in Israel to the Greek God Zeus. And he sacrificed a peg on the altar there as part of that rededication. So he's trying to wipe out everything that it meant for the people of Israel to be who they were.
And as you can imagine, that didn't go over real well with people of Israel. So the people started resisting what Antiochus was doing. And the people could be divided up into two different groups as to how they were going about resisting what was happening. The first group is called the Hasmonians.
And Hasmonians decided that they wanted to just get rid of Antiochus altogether. So they became those who resisted through military rebellion. And they would lead a revolt against Antiochus that ultimately drove him out of Israel. But the other group is a group that was known as the Hesidians.
And the Hesidians, that word, the word Hesidian means the pious ones. And these people instead of fighting with military miter with the sword like the Hasmonians were doing, what the Hesidians wanted to do is they wanted to make sure that they were doing everything they could to preserve and protect their faith. So even though Antiochus made it illegal for them to practice their faith, the Hesidians continued to read the scripture. They continued to study the law of Moses.
They continued to teach it to other people and to help everyone they could continue to live the way that God wanted them to live, even when the world around them felt like it was falling apart. And the majority of scholars believe that the Pharisees can trace their origins back to this Hesidian movement. So the Pharisees, they were a group who wanted to preserve and to protect their faith. The Pharisees were a group who said, even if everyone else abandons God, we will remain faithful to God.
We're going to continue to read the law of Moses, study it, teach it to other people, and continue to try to help people live out their faith in God no matter what's happening in the world around them. And this is actually where the word Pharisee comes from. It's a transliteration of Hebrew word, peru-shin. And this word peru-shin means separate or set apart.
And that's what the Pharisees were. They were a group who set themselves apart, who separated themselves from whatever else was happening in the world so that they could preserve and protect their faith. But here's where we sometimes get confused when it comes to Pharisees. We sometimes think that being a Pharisee was the same thing as being a priest, but they were two completely different things.
You see, back in biblical times, priests got their authority through their lineage. So you were either born a priest or you weren't. But Pharisees, they gained their authority based on their religious devotion and their knowledge of their faith. So Pharisees could be priests, but they didn't have to be.
Pharisees instead, they were often teachers. They were scholars. They were experts when it came to their faith. Pharisees were people who devoted their lives to studying what we sometimes refer to as the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.
But they didn't just study what was written in these five books at the beginning of the Bible. They also studied the oral tradition. That surrounded these five books. So that they could help people try to figure out how they could follow God in their daily lives.
So the priests were primarily concerned with what was happening inside the temple. But the Pharisees, they were concerned with what was happening outside the temple. They were concerned about what was happening in people's homes, the places that they worked in the marketplace. They were concerned about what was happening in people's lives and the Pharisees wanted to help people, follow God.
And that's why they become so influential that we can't think about Jesus' time on this earth without thinking about some of the encounters that he has with Pharisees. The Pharisees genuinely cared about other people and they wanted to help people live out their faith, do the best they could following God in their daily lives. So when John tells us that Nicodemus is a Pharisee, this is no small feat. It wasn't easy to become a Pharisee.
If you wanted to become a Pharisee, you had to devote your entire life, years, if not decades of your life, to studying scripture. You had to know the Torah inside and out. You had to be able to understand the most complicated religious laws and be able to easily explain them to anyone else. And you had to devote yourself to teaching other people so that they could live out their faith.
So when John tells us that Nicodemus is a Pharisee, this isn't some small footnote. Nicodemus is biography. It's an important part of who Nicodemus was. And John tells us he's a Pharisee.
It's not just John's way of saying, hey, this is a smart guy. Nicodemus was so much more than that. Nicodemus was a bona fide expert. He was one of the most knowledgeable people in all of Israel when it came to the scripture and when it came to his faith.
So if there was anyone in all of Israel who could have felt like they kind of had God figure out, it would have been someone like Nicodemus. All right, now that we've talked a little bit more about who Nicodemus was, we can talk a little bit more about what happens when Nicodemus encounters Jesus. So let's take a look and let's see what happens when Nicodemus meets Jesus. We're gonna start once again in John chapter three, verse one, where John writes, there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader.
He came to Jesus at night and he said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him. Now I wanna pause right here for just a minute. I wanna pause right here for just a minute because I wanna make sure that you actually heard what Nicodemus said to Jesus at the start of this passage. Because Nicodemus doesn't say, Jesus, we think we know who you are.
We think that you are a teacher who has come from God. And he doesn't say, Jesus, I've come to figure out if you were a teacher who has come from God. Now what Nicodemus says is, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. So Nicodemus begins this encounter with Jesus, thinking that he already has Jesus figured out.
He's been watching Jesus. He's been listening to Jesus. He's seen the miracles that Jesus has performed. And all of this is led Nicodemus to conclude that Jesus must be that he is a teacher who has come from God.
This is what Nicodemus knows. This is what he is certain of. And remember, this is part of who Nicodemus is a person. Why is he had spent his life studying and learning and figuring things out?
So he thinks when he first meets Jesus that he has Jesus figured out too. But all of that's about to change. So let's keep reading in John chapter three verse three and let's see what happens next. And John three verse three John tells us this.
He writes, Jesus answered, said, I assure you, unless someone is born and new, it's not possible to see God's kingdom. So Nicodemus comes to Jesus. And when Nicodemus comes to Jesus, he comes to him and he says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who is sent from God. And Jesus responds by saying, unless someone is born and new, it's not possible to see God's kingdom.
What? Where did that come from? That is a complete non-sacred order. Jesus completely changes the subject.
Nicodemus comes to him and Nicodemus wants to talk with Jesus about Jesus' identity, who Jesus is. And Jesus completely changes the subject and starts talking about what Nicodemus needs to do. And depending on your translation here, my translation that I just read, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to be born anew. Your translation may say that the Nicodemus needs to be born again or that he needs to be born from above.
In the Greek word that we translate here, the word anothin can actually mean both of those things again or from above. So right out of the gate, when Jesus starts talking to Nicodemus, there's some ambiguity, there's some uncertainty about exactly what Jesus is telling Nicodemus and Nicodemus is going to show us that there's some uncertainty, some ambiguity, some confusion in the way that he responds to Jesus here. And verse four, John writes this, he tells us, Nicodemus asked, how is it possible for an adult to be born again? It's impossible to enter the mother's womb for a second time and be born, isn't it?
But he just can't do it. It doesn't make sense born of the flesh is flesh. And whatever is born of the spirit is spirit. Don't be surprised that I said to you, you must be born anew.
God's spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear it sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it's going. It's the same way with everyone who is born of the spirit. And Nicodemus said, how are these things possible?
And Jesus answered, you are a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things? So in these verses, we just read. And these verses, not only does Jesus not explain to Nicodemus what he means when he says that Nicodemus needs to be born anew, Jesus adds more layers to it. Not only do you need to be born anew, now he's talking about being born of the water and born of the spirit.
And then he starts talking about the wind, which in Greek word there can be translated either wind or spirit and how it blows wherever it wants to blow. And Nicodemus is all kinds of confused. And when you really stop and you read this passage, it's completely understandable why Nicodemus is so confused. But he asks for the second time in this passage, how were these things possible?
He's trying to make sense out. But he can't. And remember when Nicodemus came and he met Jesus, when he first met him, he thought he had Jesus figured out. But now Nicodemus can't understand anything that Jesus is trying to teach him.
And Jesus responds, when Nicodemus asks, how are these things possible? And I'm saying basically, wait a minute, Nicodemus, aren't you a teacher of the law in Israel? Aren't you a Pharisee? Aren't you one of the most respected, most knowledgeable people when it comes to the things related to the scripture and to our faith?
But you can't understand what I'm telling you? And when Nicodemus heard that, you know what had to say. Because Nicodemus wasn't just some guy who randomly came in off of the street. He was one of the most valued and respected people in all of Israel.
He was a boldified expert when it came to matters of scripture and faith. So if anyone in all of Israel should have been able to understand what Jesus was teaching him, Nicodemus, but he couldn't. He was confused. Nicodemus came to Jesus thinking that he had everything figured out.
But when he came to Jesus that night, Jesus was showing him that he was still in the dark. Nicodemus thought he had it figured out, but Jesus showed him that he doesn't. And Jesus wanted Nicodemus to realize, no matter how much time you spend studying scripture, no matter how much time you spend teaching other people, no matter how much time you spend going to the synagogue, the temple, for us, the church. There will be times when you encounter God and God blows apart everything that you think you knew because God isn't some thing or some one that we can completely figure out.
The theologian, Elizabeth Johnson, calls this the ineffable mystery of God, which means that God is always going to be bigger and greater than we are ever going to be able to understand or explain. And this is what brings Nicodemus to his crossroads moment. Nicodemus, when he comes to this crossroads, he has to decide if he is going to continue to cling to his certainty and continue to believe that he has God figured out, or if he's going to embrace the mystery of God and accept that God is always bigger than we can understand. And Nicodemus isn't the only one who faces his crossroads.
This is a crossroads that we will all face because many of you that are worshiping with us right now, you've been coming to church since you were a baby. You started reading the Bible about the same time that you started reading Dr. Seuss. You have been involved in more Sunday school classes and listened to more sermons than you could possibly remember.
And when you've spent this much time in church, it's easy to start feeling like you have God figured out. But then something happens. Your plans don't work out the way that you thought they would. Your prayers aren't answered the way that you expected them to be.
God doesn't show up the way that you thought he would in situations in your life. And when that happens, you find yourself at the same crossroads that Nicodemus faced. When we find yourself at these crossroads, we have to ask ourselves, do we really have God figured out? Or is God too big for us to ever completely understand?
Do you have God figured out? Or is God too big for you to ever be able to fully understand? And you know what? It's admitting that we don't have God completely figured out.
It kind of feels like we're taking a big old step backwards in our faith. It kind of feels like we're saying that all of the time that we've spent reading the Bible and saying our prayers and going to church, that it doesn't really count for anything because we all have God figured out yet. But in this encounter that Jesus has with Nicodemus, Jesus isn't criticizing Nicodemus. He's not telling Nicodemus that he has wasted all this time that he has devoted to studying the scripture and learning more about faith than who God is.
Now when this encounter that Jesus has with Nicodemus, he's calling him to something bigger. Because here's the truth. A God we have completely figured out isn't much of God at all. A God that we have completely figured out isn't much of a God at all.
But the God who shows up when we're reading the Bible. The God who shows up by speaking in a burning bush. The God who parts the seas. The God who frees the people of Israel from their slavery.
The God who becomes human and walks this earth. The God who rises from the dead. That God is a big God. A God that we can never fully understand.
And this is what Lent really invites us to. Lent isn't a season that's about spending less times growing down your phone or giving up chocolate. What Lent is really about is giving up our false certainty. It's about letting go of our need to feel like we can have God completely figured out.
So this week, I want to challenge you to ask yourself, if you're acting like Nicodemus when he first met Jesus. Are you acting like you have God figured out? Like he is a puzzle that you have put together, like he is a mystery that you have solved. Do you think that you know exactly who God is, what God values and who God loves?
And if you feel like you have God completely figured out, it's probably time for you to choose a new path to go in a new direction. Because faith, faith isn't about having God figured out. Faith is about trusting in a God who is always bigger, always deeper, always more than we can imagine. Let's pray together.
God has become to you now in this time of prayer. You are a God that we often try to figure out. You're a God that we want to try to fit into different little boxes that we can control and contain. But God, no matter what box we try to put you in, you are always bigger.
You are always greater. You are always beyond our ability to fully understand or explain. So God, as we journey through life and we are tempted to feel like we have you figured out. Remind us that we don't.
Show us that you're bigger. Show us that you're deeper. Show us that you're more than we can imagine. We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.